tell me what you think?

[Emigkj07]

Howdy. I haven't shown in years. My hubby has only shown dairy. We run a (very) small commercial red Angus influenced herd. We are letting our friends daughter show one of our steers at our local county shows. He's out of a red angus/simm heifer by a simm bull. Born end of march of last year. Approx 700# (vets scale was froze the day we went to get weights). We have him eating 20# of cracked corn and a pound of some moorman product to help with feed efficiency. Plus a couple pounds of hay. He was treated for lice march 2nd, then the 7th we started daily wetting/conditioner/blowing (to help him get used to us). First show is April 4th. 2nd show is in July 10, final show is July 31. Got any thoughts, good bad ugly?

 

[SlickTxMaine]

He needed to be on a good grower or conditioning feed from the start.  The straight corn is not going to do him any favors - make him sloppy in my opinion.  Is there a min. weight at your July show?  My guess is that he's going to be in the light weight class.  I would gradually switch him over to a show ration and then get him eating as much as he will put away - usually about 3% of their body weight. 

 

[GoWyo]

Switch to a show feed or if you want to mix your own, find AAOK's ration on here as a good starting point.  I would also put the steer on free choice grass hay to help develop some rib shape and capacity.

 

[BlazinA]

Does he have patches of hair rubbed off?  If he hasn't been wormed and de-liced in awhile I would get that redone. 

 

[Emigkj07]

Thanks guys!! i was suppose to pick up a few bags of an ADM show feed today (I'm not sure which one it is) and i forgot. He was treated for lice with Cydectin and Cylence on March 2nd. Im thinking of treating him again, at least hitting him with some more pour on. I'll look up that feed mix and see what it'll cost compared to the ADM feed. Again, thanks for your responses. 

 

[CAB]

  I use the AAOK ration for feeding some bulls and I figured a cost per ton less than 30 days ago. I live in Iowa so have available to me several ingredients. It figured up @ $264.72 per ton.

 

[OH Breeder]

If you need to be finished in July. You need to implant him with a growth implant now for sure to kick up his gain. If you have a mill at your diposal I would put him on a milled feed. I used the AAOK modified version with Natural Fit in it. I also feed free choice grass hay. Our calves are shooting for July and we are at 1000#'s now. The hair will come once the lice are gone. If you treated him recently give him a little time for it to kill them off and hair to grow back.

 

[Emigkj07]

how much of the aaok feed do i feed him per day? We have gotten feed mixed up at a local co op as well as a feed company. so i can compare some prices with them and the ADM feed. right now hes pretty much getting free choice hay. this spring we will be planting some pearl millet in our pens, will it be ok to let him graze that over night? obviously, bringing him in for grain morning and night.

 

[rrblack78]

Stablized rice bran. Start slow and work your way up to 1lbs a day. 8oz twice a day. There are many threads on here about how to feed it and where to buy it. Just type it into the search box at the top of the page. The old threads will come up.

 

[jdgraham515]

Dang. My mill here in ohio has aaok feed ration at $336/ton

 

[OH Breeder]

how much of the aaok feed do i feed him per day? We have gotten feed mixed up at a local co op as well as a feed company. so i can compare some prices with them and the ADM feed. right now hes pretty much getting free choice hay. this spring we will be planting some pearl millet in our pens, will it be ok to let him graze that over night? obviously, bringing him in for grain morning and night.

I have used milled feed for years. Have tried all the bagged feed locally avalilable. I like the milled feed because I can adjust the protien and fat content quicker. If he is 700 you should be at 3% of body weight for total feed consumption a day give or take. If he isn't eating that much work him up to it so you won't sour his gut. Also think about giving him a shot of probiotics- many ways to do this improve stomach and digestive health. You can simply get gel bolus at Tractor Supply or buy granulars to mix in feed. But once you implant him make sure you stay on top of his feed consumption. Put feed in his pan an til he stops cleaning it up. Do you know how much he is eating now in grain? If not get cheap bathroom scale and start measuring the amount of grain he is taking in and see if you can increase it. There are ton of "supplements" for hair etc. Show Bloom in the feed ration up the cost little but does nice job on coat, you can also use calf manna. The Natural Fit we use gives them the little bulk up or filled out bit.

 

[Emigkj07]

he has been getting a total of 20lbs of cracked/ground corn, 1lb of the MoorMan product, and probably 5# hay. He really hasnt been cleaning up the hay, so i just base what i give him off of whats left. He has been cleaning up the corn pretty well, leaves maybe a handfull or so in the tub. but really, i dont think he likes the MoorMan product because usually there is more pellets then corn in there. I will go pick up the show feed tomorrow and start introducing that. I dont have any idea which show feed it is, my husband called our ADM supplier and she gave us some feeding options, i chose the one with show feed, so he called her back and said ok, we need show feed. I'll let you know what i have when i pick it up tomorrow. thanks for your help guys!! oh, can i use an equine product for hair? seen one at Orschlens the other day (cant remember what it was) and thought maybe i could feed that.